Gary E started his musical life early with piano lessons from his aunt on the family farm in northern Wisconsin. He continued lessons in Milwaukee, at the age of seven. ("The piano teacher lived upstairs in our apartment building!")

The trumpet came along at age ten and in high school Gary toured with a 10 piece R&B group around the Midwest. Playing the Iola Rock Festival was a considerable"high" point for the band. After high school he and some of the group members made their way to the West Coast and w…